From Shakespeare to Harry Potter, these kids are world-class experts on books

School may be out for the summer but some kidsare putting their reading skills to the test.

For the first time in 26 years, Canada hostedeight teams from around the worldforthe Kid's Lit Quiz World Finalin Oakville on Monday.

Theteams in the contest, whichtests the literature knowledge of kids aged 10-13, are made up of voracious young readers who often choose books over video games.

This year, Team Canada is from the Lee Academy in Lynden, Ont., a small village near Hamilton. The academy's director, Allison Will, said because of the size and rural address of the school she considers her group of studentsthe underdogs in this competition.

Team Canada's William Thompson, 12, has been in love with bookssince he was three. His mother started reading to himat night, and pretty soonhe was readingto her.

"I find that reading a book takes you into a different world.With all the serious stuff happening in the world I find I can just open a book and jump into a new world and just kind of explore," William told CBC Toronto.

Hongjae Noh is on Team South Africa. Like everyone else at this competition, Noh loves books.

"It's just the feel of a book starting from the physical appearance, the paper, the ink, the smell of the book." the 12-year-old said.

"Ihad ateacher last year who said every book you read is a life you've lived;I really took that to heart."

The team from South Africa ended up taking the trophy. Each team member took home a gold medal and, of course, some books.

South Africa'steam of all boys would have been an unusual sight when the competition started in 1991. Then thecompetitors were 60 per cent girls, but this year 80 per cent of the team members throughout the yearly regional competitions have been boys.

Founder and quizmaster, Wayne Mills, says the fact that he pushes tomakethe gameinclusive of all types of genres,including fantasy and comic books which areoftenfavourites for the boys, may be the reason young men have flocked to the competition.

"I acknowledge all forms of reading," said Mills, who is a New Zealander.

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Mills himself grew up as a big reader. His father would supplement his habit by giving him 50 cents for every book he bought. It takes Mills a year to come up with the questions for the quiz. He has toreadconstantly to keep up with new fiction for young people. He had just read an entire novel on the plane ride over to Canada.

Even though thekids in this competition read a lot of the same books we all do, they areexceptional for their wide-ranging tastes and detailed memories.

William Noh said his favourite category isthe "opening line"round. Without prompting herecitedthe first sentence of German fantasy novelist CorneliaFunke'sbookInkheart.

"Rain falls at night, a fine whispering rain."